LibreCrawl vs SiteOne Crawler (2026): which should you pick?

Pick LibreCrawl if

• Fits if you want a crawler with no URL limit and no licence fee
• Works for agencies hosting one crawler for a whole team on their own server

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you don't want to install anything, as there's no hosted version and the demo is down
• Watch out: on Windows the automatic Python install is off, so you need Docker or a manual setup
• Not for you if you'll put it on a shared network as it comes, since it runs without sign-in by default
• Watch out: one developer maintains it with outside help, and support goes through GitHub

Pick SiteOne Crawler if

• Fits if you want a whole-site audit report without paying for a licence
• Works for developers adding a site quality gate to a CI pipeline

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want crawls run in the cloud, as it runs only on your own computer or server
• Watch out: single-page apps are crawled only in the optional browser mode, which renders them in Chromium
• Not for you if you want AI help with no bill elsewhere, as the assistant uses your own API key or a local model
• Tight if you want reports emailed, which needs an SMTP server of your own
• Watch out: the desktop app comes from the project's own links, not yet the Mac App Store or Microsoft Store

LibreCrawl

• There is no hosted version: you install it with Docker or Python 3.8 or later, and the public demo has been taken down.
• On Windows the startup script's automatic Python install is temporarily disabled, so Docker or a manual Python setup is needed.
• It runs in local mode without sign-in by default; sharing it on a network means setting a secret key and turning authentication on.
• It is maintained by one developer, PhialsBasement, with outside contributors; bugs and feature requests go through GitHub.

SiteOne Crawler

• It runs on your own computer or server; there is no hosted crawler, and emailed reports need your own SMTP server.
• The AI assistant uses your own API key or local model, so any LLM charges come from that provider.
• Pages built by JavaScript are crawled only in the optional browser mode, which renders them in Chromium.
• The desktop app is downloaded from the project's links; its page says it is not yet in the Mac App Store or Microsoft Store.

LibreCrawl

Technical SEO checks

Finds broken links, redirect chains and loops, duplicate content, title and meta problems, schema errors, hreflang and canonical issues, and missing alt text.

JavaScript rendering

Uses Playwright and Chromium to crawl React, Vue, Angular and Next.js sites, in headless mode for speed or headed mode for debugging.

Large crawls

No URL cap; memory profiling and virtual scrolling are there to keep crawls of a million or more URLs stable, with the limit set by your hardware.

Exports

Export crawl data as CSV, Excel, JSON or XML, picking the fields you want, with no limit on the number or size of exports.

Multi-user sessions

Several users can crawl at the same time in separate sessions; a production mode adds sign-in and user tiers, and a local mode skips them.

Plugins and REST API

A plugin is one JavaScript file that adds a tab with the crawl data, shared through a Plugin Workshop; a REST API starts, stops and exports crawls.

SiteOne Crawler

Audit report and quality score

Each crawl ends in a self-contained HTML report with a 0 to 10 score, weighted 25% security and 20% each for performance, SEO and accessibility.

Site-wide checks

Covers SEO and OpenGraph tags, headings, redirects and 404s, security headers, SSL/TLS certificates, caching headers, content types and DNS.

JavaScript rendering and screenshots

An optional browser mode renders each page in Chromium so single-page apps are crawled, and can capture every page as an image, GIF or MP4.

CI/CD quality gate

The --ci option fails a build when scores fall below set thresholds, with JUnit XML output and annotations for GitHub Actions.

Offline clone and Markdown export

Saves a static mirror of a whole site, assets included, or converts its pages to Markdown and an llms.txt file.

Optional AI assistant

With your own key for OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini, or a local model, adds per-page SEO rewrites, spelling checks and a site summary.

LibreCrawl

• Free$0

  The full crawler, which you install and host yourself with Docker or Python. Every feature is included.

SiteOne Crawler

• Free$0

  The desktop app and command-line crawler, run on your own computer, with free hosted links for sharing reports.